XI 



HANDICRAFTS 201 



some three to four feet in diameter, lacking along 

 its whole length a strip about the fourth of its cir- 

 cumference) becomes a shallow trough some six to 

 seven feet wide in the middle of its length. During 

 the hollowing, small buttresses are left along each 

 side at intervals of about two feet to form supports 

 for benches. After the opening, the shell is left 

 lying covered with branches for some days, while 

 the wood sets in its new form. The outer surface 

 is then shaved approximately to the required degree, 

 all irregularities are removed, and holes about 

 half-an-inch in diameter are bored through all parts 

 of the shell at intervals of some twenty inches. 

 Wooden pegs are then hammered into these holes, 

 each peg bearing two marks or grooves at an inter- 

 val equal to the thickness of the shell desired at 

 each part ; the peg is driven in from the outside 

 until the outer groove is flush with the outer sur- 

 face of the shell, and the projecting part is cut 

 away ; the inner surface is then further chipped 

 and scraped in each area until it becomes level 

 with the inner groove on the peg. In this way 

 the workers are enabled to give to each part its 

 appropriate thickness. The outer surface is then 

 finally smoothed to form about one - third of a 

 cylinder, and the foundation is complete. It only 

 remains to lash the cross-benches to their supports, 

 to raise the sides by lashing on a gunwale, and 

 to fit in wedge-shaped blocks at bow and stern. 

 The gunwale consists of a tough plank some 

 ten inches wide overlapping the outer edge of 

 the shell, and lashed firmly to it by rattan strips 

 piercing both shell and planks at intervals of 

 about six inches. In some cases the gunwale is 

 further raised in its middle part by lashing on a 

 second smaller plank to the upper edge of the first. 

 The block fitted in at the prow presents to the 

 water a flat surface inclined at a low angle ; and a 



